The Toledo Mud Hens and Detroit Tigers announced Jan. 30 a two-year working relationship through the 2010 season. This extends the affiliation between the two historic franchises that began in 1987.

The Toledo Mud Hens are coming off their second straight Governors’ Cup Championship. Toledo won the International League West Division with a 76-66 record and won the Governors’ Cup for the third time in franchise history (1967, 2005). According to a news release, the Mud Hens also broke a single-season attendance record by attracting 569,380 fans during the regular season (Toledo drew an additional 37,077 fans in six post-season games).

Toledo Vice President/General Manager Joseph Napoli said in the release, “In the winter of 2001, we met with Dave Dombrowski and his staff. He let us know that it wasn’t going to be easy, but he and his staff had the responsibility to rebuild the Tigers and the Farm System. They promised that they wouldn’t be outworked and they haven’t been. As a result, the Mud Hens have won back-to back Governors’ Cup Championships and we are extremely thankful.”

Toledo Mud Hens Board President Mike Miller added, “We are very pleased to announce the extension of our player development contract. Under the leadership of Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers organization has performed extremely well in all aspects. The benefits to the Mud Hens are numerous in terms of the quality of individuals and players signed by the Tigers to play in Toledo. We feel very good about the affiliation with the Tigers and the mutual benefits derived.”

Detroit Tigers’ Director of Minor League Operations Dan Lunetta said, "We are thrilled and delighted to be entering into this agreement to extend our affiliation an additional two years. The Mud Hens represent everything a major league organization looks for in an affiliate relationship and this is and has been a perfect fit for each other for many years and hopefully for many more years to come. Toledo is an integral part of our developmental process and the fan support we have received has certainly played a role in the success of our back to back championships."

Lunetta added, "The Tigers are very appreciative of the way the Mud Hens and the Toledo community treat our players and staff and we are very proud to be associated with the Mud Hens organization. Mike Miller and Joe Napoli run a first class organization in every respect. The affiliate relationship is much more than what takes place on the field and our agreement to extend to 2010 reflects the strength of that relationship."

1953-1955 Milwaukee

1949-1952 Detroit

1940-1948 St. Louis

1936-1939 Detroit

1883-1935 No affiliation

Due to conditions and declining
attendance, four of the City of Toledo’s public swimming pools,
Ashley, Collins, Jamie Farr and Ravine, have been recommended for
permanent closure in the 2007 season. For 2007, at least four pools will
close due to lowest attendance, worst conditions and budget
limitations, according to a news release. Public meetings are scheduled at four locations to discuss
pool closures.

CINCINNATI –
Time is running out for Comair and its pilots to reach an agreement on wage
cuts and other concessions.

The Delta
Air Lines Inc. subsidiary and the union representing its 1,500 pilots enter
their final negotiations this week.

Comair has
said that it could impose concessions on its pilots on Friday if no agreement
has been reached. But the company probably won’t take that action until a
federal bankruptcy judge rules on Comair’s request that the court block pilots
from striking.

“We remain
hopeful that our discussions in the coming days will be productive, but we also
have to plan for the possibility that we will not reach an agreement,” Comair
spokeswoman Kate Marx said Friday.

The pilots
authorized union leaders to call a strike if Comair throws out their contract
and imposes $15.8 million in annual concessions.

Comair asked
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Adlai Hardin Jr. in December to bar pilots from striking
but later asked the judge to postpone his ruling while negotiations continued.
The airline said it will ask the judge to make his decision on Thursday.

“It seems
that the company would rather litigate than negotiate,” Paul Denke, spokesman
for the Air Line Pilots Association that represents Comair pilots, said Friday.

The union
still hopes agree with Comair on a deal that both sides see as fair, Denke
said, but a court order blocking a strike would cause more pilots to leave the
company.

“A lot of
them who would rather stay at Comair will be forced to seek other jobs that
have competitive wages, some job security and retirement,” he said.

Comair and
the union avoided a near-breakdown in negotiations last month, two days before
the original Dec. 30 deadline that the airline had set for imposing those
concessions. The two sides agreed to resume negotiations this month with help
from a private mediator. Final talks are scheduled Tuesday through Thursday
this week in Washington, D.C.

An airline
analyst said Comair must have concessions to be competitive.

“Some – if
not all – of their business will go to somebody else, and there are a number of
regional airlines out there hungry for more business,” said Ray Neidl, an
analyst with Calyon Securities Inc.

Atlanta-based
Delta is trying to get costs down as much as possible because it is intent on
getting out of bankruptcy by April, he said. Delta, along with Comair, filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2005. Since then, Tempe, Ariz.-based US
Airways Group Inc. has made a hostile bid to buy Delta.

Comair,
based in Erlanger, Ky., near the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International
Airport, is seeking $70 million in savings as it tries to emerge from
bankruptcy along with Delta.

The airline
previously had an agreement with its pilots for $17.3 million in annual cuts
over the next four years. But that was contingent on Comair getting a certain
level of savings from its flight attendants and mechanics union.

Because the
flight attendants approved a deal last month to cut annual costs by $7.9
million, $1 million less than originally required, the airline had to negotiate
new deals with the machinists and pilots. The machinists agreed to a modified
deal, but the pilots did not.

The Lucas County Commissioners appointed Toledo lawyer Michael P. Dansack Jr., a partner
at Gallon, Takacs, Boissoneault & Schaffer Co., to the Toledo-Lucas County
Public Library Board of Trustees Jan. 23. According to a news release, Dansack was sworn in last Jan. 25at Main Library during his first meeting as
a trustee.

Dansack, a former City of
Oregon mayor, has been appointed to fill a seat left vacant when Joseph V.
McNamara resigned from the board to serve on Toledo City Council. Dansack’s term runs through Jan. 10, 2009, the release said.

Dansack also
serves on the Harbor Behavioral Healthcare Board of Directors, and is a trustee
on the St. Charles Mercy Hospital Advisory Board.

The Jan. 23 town hall meeting at UT may have served as a wake-up call of sorts for Toledoans who are concerned about crime and the number of police officers on the streets to answer their calls.

Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner stated during his 2005 campaign for the office that he believes the city police force needs around 700 sworn officers.

City resident Chris Tiefel openly questioned the mayor on his campaign statement, asking if public safety forces — police officers and firefighters — were “off the table” when it comes to budget cuts.

The mayor responded in blunt, direct fashion: that “nothing is off the table,” when the city is facing an $11 million shortfall in this year’s budget, and as much as $17 million through 2008.

Police Chief Mike Navarre even lamented he likely would not see a new class of police recruits — this year or next. The city just cannot afford it, he told the crowd.

The city is also considering closing the Northwest District police station and selling it off for an estimated savings of $430,000. Chief Navarre told the standing-room-only crowd that the city’s police operations would not suffer being run from Downtown and the Scott Park District station instead.

The chief stated that cutting a district station would add a handful of officers to street duty, and he might need every uniform he can get.

The police chief also said the city’s police dispatch is now entirely made up of civilian employees, which allows about three dozen more men and women in blue to be sent out to the streets or other law enforcement operations.

That puts the number of sworn police officers somewhere in the high 600s. The question remains: is that enough?

You can argue the numbers of officers all you want. What is the appropriate number and the proper measure — the size of the city (88 square miles)? Is it population (per capita, or officers per thousand people)?

If it’s the size of the city that matters, the square mileage constant and is not going to change anytime soon.

If population is the proper measure, the mayor says Toledo has lost about 70,000 residents in the past 15 years or so. Yet the size of the police force remains as large as he could remember in recent years.

The Toledo Police Patrolman’s Association has argued the size of the police force on a per capita basis is smaller than many other cities in Ohio. The police union has also stated that some weekend shifts across the city don’t have enough police power to properly answer high-priority calls as a result.

For most people, the measure of whether there are enough officers is simply whether they feel safe in their neighborhood.

For them, it boils down to whether they believe a police officer will respond quickly enough when they dial 911.

But budget cuts and cost concerns are playing havoc with those feelings of the citizenry. It has become a dollars-and-cents issue that until now, has been discussed behind closed doors as a city council task force negotiates with the Finkbeiner administration.

Let me remind you of how contentious things got a couple of years ago, when then-Mayor Jack Ford brought up the possibility of police and fire layoffs. The citizenry let city leaders know they would not put up with pink slips for public safety forces — no way, no how.

Of course, Finkbeiner’s budget gurus have offered a couple of alternatives: raise city property taxes or increase the income tax to bridge the budget gap.

Yes, any talk of cutting the police force could be a smoke-screen to get a tax increase.

But it certainly looks like the same situation is rearing its ugly head yet again. I’m just warning you it’s coming, because I’ve seen some of the same posturing and tough talk that we saw as a community the last time police layoffs hit the radar.

So prepare yourself by asking this question, too: do you feel safe now, and are you willing to pay more to feel that way in the future?

The Collingwood Arts Center will welcome Tom Turner & Slow Burn to the Lois M. Nelson Theatre stage to kick off their Blues and R&B concert series on Feb. 4.

Tom Turner’s vocal style and song writing have carried him across the United States and most of Canada, spanning a career of nearly 30 years. He has earned opening spots before many national and international recording artists, including Eric Burdon, Leon Russell, Michael McDonald, Tower of Power, Spyro Gyra, Bo Diddley, War, Edgar Winter and Richie Havens. Although Turner has covered many diverse genres of music, his distinctive phrasing and soulful delivery come the influence of the blues.

“I’ve known Tom for about 15 years, and when he approached me about giving a concert here — it just seemed like a natural fit. So I went down to hear him and the band live and we set up the show,” said Collingwood Arts Center Program Director Brian Felster.

Slow Burn started as a local blues project. It soon grew to a six-piece band with the addition of the horn section. The band adopted material to break into the blues scene, and play at bars and cafes. Members include Turner, Dave Tippett on trumpet, Ray Woods on drums, Kyle Turner on piano, Joe Martin on Saxophone and flute and Sidney Harrison on bass. They were featured in the Memphis International Blues Competition and made it to the finals in Toledo. Slow Burn plays a mixture of blues, soul, swing and funk.

Turner and his band have previously appeared at a number of venues around Toledo including Manhattan’s and the Toledo Museum of Art. The band will make a number of upcoming appearances at the Corral in Whitehouse, in addition to going into the studio to record a number of Turner’s original songs.

There will be a 5 p.m. meet and greet with the band. Ramona Collins will host the show, which will begin at 6 p.m. Tickets are $16.50 for adults, and $13.50 for seniors 65 and over and children under 18.

“A lot of people aren’t aware of the things the harp can do,” said Denise Grupp-Verbon, harpist of the music duo Tapestry. “They look at it like a classical instrument in an orchestra. They don’t see it in any other surrounding.”

Celebrating her 25th anniversary as a professional harpist, Denise hopes to continue changing the stereotype of harp music. Along with her husband and guitarist Michael Grupp-Verbon, the duo headlines the Opera House in Fayette on March 31.

“You get jaws dropping,” said Michael, describing Tapestry’s repertoire, which includes everything from jazz standards and Celtic folk to Led Zeppelin and Poison. “The way we justify ourselves is so that we don’t fit into one thing. We’re not just a bar band. We’re not just background noise. We don’t just record CDs. We do a little bit of everything.”

With a BGSU degree in harp performance and a Master’s from Northwestern, Denise’s professional career dates back to 1982 when she began performing six nights a week at the Boody House Restaurant, Downtown.

“I still have people come up to me and say, ‘We remember hearing you,’” said Denise, who spent the earlier portion of her career playing at Toledo establishments such as the Hotel Sofitel. She soon bridged out to weddings, corporate functions and personal concerts at the Toledo Museum of Art, Bowling Green’s “Lunch in the Park,” the Mitch Albom Show in Detroit and the national Somerset Folk Harp Festival. Tapestry also releases a new CD this summer to follow-up its 2005 album, “Variations.”

In 2001, Denise began a career as a professor at Owens Community College. This past October, she was the statewide recipient of the “Adjunct Teacher of the Year” award from the Ohio Association of Two-Year Colleges.

“It’s something I always wanted to do,” Denise said. “A couple of years ago, I developed music business classes. There’s now discussion of having a two-year business technology degree, which would be unique for the area.”

“Some are proud of that harp stereotype, but it’s not what I want to do. You get a lot more work if you’re accessible. We had a gentleman come up to me on break one morning and said, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect the repertoire you’re playing. I didn’t fall asleep!’ He thought harp music was going to be boring, but it doesn’t have to be. To reach people and to make people feel good, you want to play something they recognize. They say, ‘I can’t believe you can play my favorite song on the harp!’ How cool is that?”